It seems to depend on the people and the gear involved. I've mentioned my issues with the HD 600 numerous times in its thread, while otherwise communicating my overall satisfaction with it, and nobody has ever jumped down my throat. Same for the DT880 (I have quite a posting history in that thread) and others in my collection. Since I've never owned an uber flagship, I imagine it's different in those kinds of threads. People probably have more personally invested in such products being seen as great because it requires a greater financial investment in order to own such a product, and some of the people who bought one of these probably had to sacrifice a fair amount in order to afford it. Accordingly, they would be less tolerant of somebody who points out the flaws or otherwise rips into such a product.
Something I've noticed (to my surprise) in the HD 600 thread is that folks seem to largely accept the limitations of the headphone, rather than make outlandish suggestions like "Use <amp x> and that'll cure the bass extension problem;
loads of extra sub bass with this pairing" or "
I don't hear any bass distortion at all, but that's probably because I use <component x>." This could just be because it's been around for so long that everybody has finally got to the point where they can't convince themselves that these kinds of suggestions work anymore, or it could perhaps be because people are more readily accepting of the idea that headphones like the HD 6x0 have flaws because it helps them justify the expense of current flagships. Either way, most of the thread interaction I've had in the impressions threads I frequent has been pretty laid back. I hear every day about impression thread implosions, so I don't deny they happen. I just seem to have found a curious island away from them.
